I wanted to know why Aubrey had shut me out. In the past, I hadn’t been the most attentive boyfriend—work consumed me—but I’d always been open and honest with my ex-girlfriends about what I wanted and how I felt. Maybe that was the problem with Aubrey. I hadn’t been one hundred percent honest about my feelings for her.
“If she’s that much of a distraction,” Evan said, “move her to another department.”
“Or fire her,” Cade suggested.
I gripped the neck of my beer bottle so hard the glass was in danger of cracking. “What the fuck, Cade? I’m not going to fire her, and I’m not moving her to another department. Both of those options would be a dick move. I’ll fix this. I don’t know how, but I will.”
Like a mini-tornado, Max came barreling out of the house. “Come play with me, Uncle Noah.”
I grinned at my nephew, the only person in the world who could bring a smile to my face right now. “Grab your glove, buddy. Let’s see if you remember everything I taught you last week.”
I spent the rest of the afternoon pitching with Max before coming home and falling onto the sofa. I picked up my cell and video called Aubrey, but not surprisingly, she didn’t pick up.
My thoughts went back to the night of the ball—like they ever went anywhere else.
I recalled how her body had molded against mine, how her tits had pressed against my chest.
My dick hardened at the memory, and I pictured her on the sofa beside me naked. She’d straddle my lap, and I’d fuck her until she screamed my name. Then I’d fuck her again and again and again.
A hoarse, rough groan sounded in my throat, and my dick throbbed in time with my heartbeat.
Reaching down, I unzipped my jeans and tugged my rock-hard cock from my boxers. My head drooped back against the sofa, and I closed my eyes. Aubrey’s face and body were front and center in my mind.
I pictured her kneeling between my spread legs, gazing up at me, her big, green eyes filled with lust.
I wrapped my hand around my dick, imagining it was her hand jerking me off and not mine. My grip was a punishing one. I wouldn’t last long, but I would try.
With my free hand, I shoved down my jeans and boxers, squeezed my balls, and moved my other hand up and down my shaft nice and slow.
Currents zapped through my body. I was close to the edge of heaven. Every muscle in my body tensed, urging me to go faster, harder. I gritted my teeth against the pressure building at the base of my spine.
My balls drew up, signaling I was seconds away from losing it.
“Fuck.”
I needed Aubrey here. I needed her on top of me, beneath me, beside me. An image of her smiling face blinded my thoughts, and a second later, I lost it, spilling my hot cum all over my hand.
After I’d cleaned myself up and my heartbeat had returned to normal, I blew out a long, ragged breath. I’d given her space. I’d stayed away. But no more.
Whether she liked it or not, she would hear me out, and she would enlighten me as to what I’d done wrong. If she told me to piss off, I would keep trying until she listened to every word I had to say, and until she gave me an explanation.
One thing about the whole damn mess I was sure about was that after tonight Aubrey Andrews would have no doubt about my feelings for her.
Chapter Six
Aubrey
I so didn’t belong here.
I sat at a table with a glass of untouched white wine in front of me. Josie, who until yesterday, had been as cold as a dead fish toward me, had asked me to join her and a few girls from the call center management team for Saturday night dinner and drinks. I’d said yes because I wanted to make some work friends and somehow stop the gossip about me from getting any worse.
The second I sat down, I figured out fast I would always be on the outside looking in.
They were friendly enough and tried to include me, but I wasn’t one of them. Josie acted like my friend, but she reminded me of Regina George from Mean Girls.
“You know,” she said, leaning toward me like she had a secret to share. “I was super pissed when you didn’t show for the interview, and even more pissed when Noah told me he’d interviewed you by the Snack Attack truck. I’d spent hours, days even, reading résumés. But,” she said and shrugged, “you did what was best for you, I guess.” She reached out and patted my hand. “FYI, I don’t believe a word anyone says about you and Noah.”
I yanked my hand from hers. “Like what?”
She glanced around the table at the other women. “Madison,” she barked. “What did you tell me you’d heard?”
Madison licked her lips and grinned. “I heard that the night of the ball, you were over him like butter on corn.”
“I heard you blow him beneath his desk,” Sara added. “That’s why you always work late.”
Kelli, Piper, and Melissa nodded in agreement.
“None of that’s true,” I said, trying to stop myself from dumping their untouched plates over their heads.
“Oh, it’s okay, sweetie,” Josie said in a nauseating voice. “You’re not the first. He sees women as conquests. He’s irresistible when he puts on the charm. I should know.”
None of what they had said made any sense. The man they were describing was nothing like Noah. And what did Josie mean by ‘I should know’?
I shook my head. “Everything you’ve heard or think you know about Noah and me is bullshit. He’s my boss and also my friend. For the record, he never once laid a finger on me.” That part was a lie, but if I told them he’d kissed me, by Monday morning the kiss would have turned into us having crazy monkey sex on the boardroom table.
Madison tilted her head. “Maybe if you wore something other than hooded sweatshirts and jeans, he would.”
I actually thought that maybe these women could be my work friends. No chance. They were rude, mean, nasty, and nosey.
I balled up my napkin and set it on the table as calmly as I could. I then grabbed my bag, took out some cash, and placed it on the table. “This should cover my share.”
Without a backward glance, I strode out of the restaurant with my head held high.
I didn’t allow my tears to fall until I was in my car. I hit my palms against the steering wheel and screamed at the sky.
I was used to being talked about. I got it. I was weird and quiet, and people often confused that with being standoffish and stuck up, but I was neither of those things. My shyness was about self-preservation and protection.
Every time I opened up to someone, I always ended up getting hurt and rejected.
That was one of the many reasons I’d stopped returning Noah’s calls and had blanked him at work.
Every day, I replayed our kiss in my head, and images of him invaded my thoughts morning, noon, and night, but I couldn’t go there.
When I reached my apartment building, I balled my fists and hit them off my thighs. I was stupid to think those women could be my friends. And I was stupid to have allowed myself to fall for Noah. Being by myself was the best thing for my heart and my sanity.
Once I stepped out of my car, I saw him standing by his truck, and my heart thumped against my ribcage so hard I thought it might break through and jump over to him.
After the shitty night I’d had, I wanted to fall into his arms and tell him about Josie and ask what had happened between them. I wanted to tell him that the watercooler gossip was out of control, but I didn’t do either of those things. Instead, I stood by my car fiddling with my keys, watching him.